Departure from Port Phillip.
Cape Schanck.
Wilson's Promontory, and its isles.
Kent's Groups, and Furneaux's Isles.
Hills behind the Long Beach.
Arrival at Port Jackson.
Health of the ship's company.
Refitment and supply of the ship.
Price of provisions.
Volunteers entered.
Arrangement for the succeeding part of the voyage.
French ships.
Astronomical and nautical observations.
[SOUTH COAST. BASS' STRAIT.]
MONDAY 3 MAY 1802
On the 3rd of May at daylight the anchor was weighed to go out of Port
Phillip with the last half of the ebb; and the wind being from the
westward, we backed, filled and tacked occasionally, dropping out with
the tide. When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr.
Westall took a view of it (Atlas Plate XVII, View 13.), which will be an
useful assistance in finding this extensive but obscure port; and at
eleven o'clock, when we bore away eastward to pass Cape Schanck, he
sketched that cape and the ridge of hills terminating at Arthur's Seat
(View 14). Cape Schanck is a cliffy head, with three rocks lying off, the
outermost of which appears at a distance like a ship under sail: the
latitude is 38° 29' or 30' south, and longitude 144° 53' east. It will
always be desirable for vessels to get sight of this cape before they run
far into the great bight for Port Phillip; and if the wind blow strong
from the southward it will be unsafe to run without having seen it.
Cape Schanck is also an excellent mark for ships desiring to go into
Western Port, of which it forms the west side of the principal entrance;
but as there are many breakers and shoals on that side, which extend
almost to mid-channel, it will be necessary to give the cape a wide berth
by keeping over to Phillip Island on the starboard hand.
At noon, Cape Schanck bore N. 36° W. five or six miles; the breeze was
fresh from the westward, with cloudy weather, and we steered for Point
Grant, at the east side of the entrance into Western Port. There is a
square-topped rock surrounded with a reef lying off the point; but the
Lady Nelson has passed between them, with 3 fathoms water. On reaching
within a mile of this reef, at one o'clock, I set
C. Schanck, distant 9 or 10 miles, at N. 85° W.
A cliffy head up the entrance, distant 5 miles, N. 16 W.
Square-topped rock, N. 85 E.
Cape Wollamai, S. 80½ E.
We then steered eastward along the south side of Phillip Island, and
passed a needle-like rock lying under the shore. Cape Wollamai is the
east end of the island, and forms one side of the small, eastern entrance
to the port; and at three o'clock when it bore, N. 14° E., five or six
miles, its longitude was ascertained by means of the time-keepers to be
145° 25' east: the latitude deduced from bearings is 38° 33' south.
_Wollamai_ is the native name for a fish at Port Jackson, called
sometimes by the settlers light-horseman, from the bones of the head
having some resemblance to a helmet; and the form of this cape bearing a
likeness to the head of the fish, induced Mr. Bass to give it the name of
Wollamai.
We ran south-eastward along the shore, at the rate of six or seven knots,
until sunset; when a steep head, supposed to be the Cape Liptrap of
captain Grant, was seen through the haze, and our bearings of the land
were,
Cape Wollamai, distant six leagues, N. 49° W.
A low projection, distant seven miles, N. 21 E.
Cape Liptrap, S. 50 E.
We soon afterwards hauled to the wind off shore, under treble-reefed
top-sails; and the gale increasing, with much swell from the
south-westward, the close reefs were taken in. At midnight, tacked to the
northward, and stood off and on till daybreak [TUESDAY 4 MAY 1802]; the
wind being strong at west, and weather squally with rain. We then bore
away for the land, which was seen to leeward; and at seven, the bearings
of the principal parts were as under:
Land indistinct, apparently C. Liptrap, N. 5° W.
Wilson's Promontory, south extreme, S. 85 E.
A peaked I. (Rodondo of captain Grant), S. 71 E.
Besides Rodondo, which lies about six miles to the south-by-east of the
promontory, I distinguished five or six less conspicuous isles, lying
along the south and west sides of this remarkable headland; these are
called Glennie's Isles. To the N. 88° E. from Rodondo, and distant about
two leagues, was a small island which appears to have been one of
Moncur's Isles; and in steering south-eastward we got sight of the
Devil's Tower, and of the high island and rocks named Sir Roger Curtis'
Isles. These names were given by captain Grant in 1800; but he was not
the discoverer of the places to which they are applied. They are all laid
down upon my chart of 1799, on the authority of Mr. Bass; and when it is
considered that this enterprising man saw them from an open boat, in very
bad weather, their relative positions to Wilson's Promontory will be
thought surprisingly near the truth. Unfortunately the situation of the
promontory itself, owing to some injury done to his quadrant, is
considerably in error, being twelve or fourteen miles wrong in latitude.
A reef is mentioned by captain Grant as lying to the southward between
Rodondo and Moncur's Isles; and a rock, level with the water, was seen in
the same situation by the ships Gato and Castle of Good Hope, from which
last it received the appropriate name of _Crocodile Rock_. This also was
seen by Mr. Bass, and laid down in its relative situation; but in the
Investigator I was not sufficiently near to get sight of this important
danger.
We continued to steer south-eastward, round all these islands, having a
fresh gale at west-south-west with squally weather; and at noon our
situation was in
Latitude observed, 39° 35'
Longitude by time keepers, 146 30
Rodondo bore N. 15 W.
Sir R. Curtis' Island, the peak, dist. 7 miles, N. 46 E.
(The Devil's Tower being nearly on with the north side.)
Two pointed rocks, N. 57° and 62 E.
Wilson's Promontory was no longer visible; but from the best bearings I
had been able to obtain in such blowing weather, its south-eastern
extremity lies in latitude 39° 11½' south, and longitude 146° 24' east.
Not seeing any more islands to the southward from the masthead, we bore
away east soon after noon to make Kent's Groups; and before three o'clock
they both came in sight, as did an island to the northward, which seems
to have been one of the small cluster discovered by Mr. John Black, and
named Hogan's Group. The longitude by time keepers at this time was 146°
58' east, and the following bearings were taken:
Sir R. Curtis' Island, the peak, N. 71° W.
Hogan's highest Island, from the mast head, N. 5 E.
Kent's large Group, south end of the eastern I. N. 70 E.
Small Group, dist. 6 or 7 miles, hiding the
north-west end of the large group, N. 52° to 45 E.
In steering past the south sides of the two groups at the distance of
four to six miles, I was enabled to correct their positions; and also
that of the pyramid, which was set at S. 4½° E. ten miles at four
o'clock. When these lands had been laid down in the Francis and Norfolk
in 1798, it was without the assistance of a time keeper, and therefore
liable to considerable errors in longitude.
At five in the evening I thought myself fortunate to get a sight of
Furneaux's great island through the haze; and also of a small, craggy
isle which had been before fixed relatively to the inner Sister. To
obtain the positions of these places by our timekeepers was to me an
important object; since they were connected with the former survey of
Furneaux's Islands and the north-eastern part of Van Diemen's Land. The
bearings taken at five were,
Furneaux's great I., hills on the west part, S. 48° E.
Small craggy isle, S. 69 E.
Kent's large Group, extremes, N. 7° to 47 W.
Small Group, the largest isle, N. 77 W.
A small rock, not seen before, N. 88 E.
The hills upon Furneaux's great island, which I believe, but could not
certainly ascertain to have been upon the westernmost point, will
therefore lie very nearly S. 48° E., from the bluff south-west end of
Kent's large Group, instead of S. 38° E., as before marked. This places
the great island 10' of longitude further east from the group, than was
given by my run in the Francis during the night of Feb. 8, 1798.
We passed to the northward of the small new rock at the distance of three
miles, and I judged it to lie four, or four-and-half leagues from the
eastern side of Kent's large Group. No kind of danger was observed
between them, but it was then nearly dark; and the wind being fresh and
favourable, and not having more than ten days provisions in the ship, I
felt it necessary to leave this and some other parts of Bass' Strait to a
future examination; and we steered onward, east-north-east for Port
Jackson.
WEDNESDAY 5 MAY 1802
At daylight of the 5th the course was altered more northward; and at
noon, land was seen from the mast head to the north-north-west, probably
some of the hills at the back of the Long Beach, and distant not less
than twenty leagues: our latitude was 38° 32' south and longitude 149°
35' east. The wind had then moderated and having shifted to north-west we
kept close up to make Cape Howe. At four, hove to and sounded, but no
bottom could be had with 90 fathoms; the land extended in patches from
west-north-west distant twenty-five or more leagues to near the Ram Head
at north; and consequently the hills at the back of the Long Beach must
be of considerable elevation, superior to any other land _near the sea_
in the southern, or perhaps any part of New South Wales.
THURSDAY 6 MAY 1802
On the wind shifting to the east side of north, next day, I tacked to get
in with the land; being desirous of running near to as much of the coast,
and correcting its longitude in our way to Port Jackson, as could be done
without loss of time; but at noon the wind veered back, and our
north-eastern course was resumed. The land could not then be further
distant than nine or ten leagues; but no part of it was in sight, nor
from the dullness of the weather could any observation be taken.
[EAST COAST. PORT JACKSON.]
FRIDAY 7 MAY 1802
After a squally night the wind fixed at west-by-north; and at daybreak of
the 7th the land was visible from west to north-west, and our course was
parallel to it (Atlas Plate VIII). At noon, the latitude was 36° 24'
south, and longitude 151° 16' east; Mount Dromedary was in sight bearing
N. 85° W., and by the difference of longitude, was distant fifty-two
miles: I estimate its highest south part to lie in 36° 19' south, and
150° 11' east. The wind returned to the north-west in the afternoon, and
we lost sight of the land; but becoming fairer afterwards, and the
southern current not having much strength, by four next day [SATURDAY 8
MAY 1802] the heads of Port Jackson were in sight. At dusk the flag-staff
upon the South Head bore west-south-west, and our distance from the shore
was seven or eight miles.
I tried to beat up for the port in the night, being sufficiently well
acquainted to have run up in the dark, had the wind permitted; but we
were still to leeward in the morning [SUNDAY 9 MAY 1802], and Mr. Westall
made a good sketch of the entrance (Atlas Plate XVIII. View 1). At one
o'clock, we gained the heads, a pilot came on board, and soon after three
the Investigator was anchored in Sydney Cove.
There was not a single individual on board who was not upon deck working
the ship into harbour; and it may be averred that the officers and crew
were, generally speaking, in better health than on the day we sailed from
Spithead, and not in less good spirits. I have said nothing of the
regulations observed after we made Cape Leeuwin; they were little
different from those adopted in the commencement of the voyage, and of
which a strict attention to cleanliness and a free circulation of air in
the messing and sleeping-places formed the most essential parts. Several
of the inhabitants of Port Jackson expressed themselves never to have
been so strongly reminded of England as by the fresh colour of many
amongst the Investigator's ship's company.
So soon as the anchor was dropped, I went on shore to wait upon his
Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq., governor of New South Wales, and
senior naval officer upon the station; to whom I communicated a general
account of our discoveries and examinations upon the South Coast, and
delivered the orders from the Admiralty and Secretary of State. These
orders directed the governor to place the brig Lady Nelson under my
command, and not to employ the Investigator on other service than that
which was the object of the voyage; and His Excellency was pleased to
assure me that every assistance in the power of the colony to render
should be given to forward a service so interesting to his government,
and to himself. The Lady Nelson was then lying in Sydney Cove; but her
commander, lieutenant Grant, had requested permission to return to
England, and had sailed six months before.
Besides the Lady Nelson, there were in the port His Majesty's armed
vessel Porpoise, the Speedy, south-whaler, and the Margaret privateer;
also the French national ship _Le Naturaliste_, commanded by captain
Hamelin, to whom I communicated captain Baudin's intention of coming to
Port Jackson so soon as the bad weather should set in. Le Géographe's
boat had been picked up in Bass' Strait by Mr. Campbell of the brig
Harrington, and the officers and crew were at this time on board Le
Naturaliste.
MAY 1802
The duties required to fit the ship for prosecuting the voyage with
success being various and extensive, Cattle Point, on the east side of
Sydney Cove, was assigned to us by the governor for carrying on some of
our employments, whilst others were in progress on board the ship and in
the dockyard. On the morning after our arrival we warped to a convenient
situation near the point, and sent on shore the tents, the sailmakers and
sails, and the cooper with all the empty casks. Next day the observatory
was set up, and the time-keepers and other astronomical instruments
placed there under the care of lieutenant Flinders, who, with Mr.
Franklin, his assistant, was to make the necessary observations and
superintend the various duties carrying on at the same place; and a small
detachment of marines was landed for the protection of the tents.
I had found the barricade of the quarter deck to stand so high, as to be
not only an obstacle to beating to windward, but a great inconvenience to
surveying the coast; for when the wind was on the side next to the land,
there were no means of taking bearings over it but by standing on the top
of the binnacle; or otherwise by removing the compass to different
places, which I had found could not be done without materially changing
the variation. These inconveniences being stated to the governor, his
permission was obtained to reduce it so low as that it might be
overlooked in all cases; and an order was given that four convict
carpenters, and such other assistance from the dockyard should be
furnished as was necessary.
To supply the place of the cutter we had lost at the entrance of
Spencer's Gulf, I contracted for a boat to be built after the model of
that in which Mr Bass made his long and adventurous expedition to the
strait. It was twenty-eight feet seven inches in length over all, rather
flat floored, head and stern alike, a keel somewhat curved, and the
cut-water and stern post nearly upright; it was fitted to row eight oars
when requisite, but intended for six in common cases. The timbers were
cut from the largest kind of banksia, which had been found more durable
than mangrove; and the planking was of cedar. This boat was constructed
under the superintendance of Mr. Thomas Moore, master builder to the
colony; and proved, like her prototype, to be excellent in a sea, as well
as for rowing and sailing in smooth water. The cost at Port Jackson was
no more than £30.; but this was owing to some of the materials being
supplied from the public magazines.
Whilst these branches of our refitment were going on, a thorough
examination was made and survey taken of all the ship's stores; as well
for the purpose of sending away those unserviceable and replacing them
with others so far as they could be obtained, as with a view to enable
the warrant officers to pass their accounts and obtain their pay up to
this time; a precaution which the nature of our voyage rendered more
peculiarly necessary. After the surveys were ended, the seamen were
employed in stripping and re-rigging the masts, and preparing the hold to
receive a fresh stock of provisions and water; the naturalist and his
assistants, as also the two painters, made excursions into the interior
of the country; and my time was mostly occupied in constructing the fair
charts of our discoveries and examinations upon the south coast, for the
purpose of their being transmitted to the secretary of the Admiralty.
JUNE 1802
On the 4th of June, the ship was dressed with colours, a royal salute
fired, and I went with the principal officers of the Investigator to pay
my respects to His Excellency the governor and captain-general, in honour
of HIS MAJESTY'S birth day. On this occasion, a splendid dinner was given
to the colony; and the number of ladies and civil, military, and naval
officers was not less than forty, who met to celebrate the birth of their
beloved sovereign in this distant part of the earth.
On the 6th, the Speedy, south-whaler, sailed for England. By Mr. Quested,
the commander, I transmitted to the Admiralty an account of my
proceedings upon the south coast of Terra Australis; but the charts being
unfinished, were obliged to be deferred to a future opportunity. To the
Astronomer Royal I sent Arnold's time keepers, No. 82 and 176, which had
stopped; together with a statement of the principal astronomical
observations hitherto made, and an account of Earnshaw's two time
keepers, No. 543 and 520, which continued to perform well.
Captain Baudin arrived in Le Geographe on the 20th, and a boat was sent
from the Investigator to assist in towing the ship up to the cove. It was
grievous to see the miserable condition to which both officers and crew
were reduced by scurvy; there being not more out of one hundred and
seventy, according to the commander's account, than twelve men capable of
doing their duty. The sick were received into the colonial hospital; and
both French ships furnished with everything in the power of the colony to
supply. Before their arrival, the necessity of augmenting the number of
cattle in the country had prevented the governor from allowing us any
fresh meat; but some oxen belonging to government were now killed for the
distressed strangers; and by returning an equal quantity of salt meat,
which was exceedingly scarce at this time, I obtained a quarter of beef
for my people. The distress of the French navigators had indeed been
great; but every means were used by the governor and the principal
inhabitants of the colony, to make them forget both their sufferings and
the war which existed between the two nations.*
[* These liberal proceedings, which do so much honour to governor King
and the colonists, are handsomely acknowledged by M. Peron in his account
of the French voyage.]
JULY 1802
His Excellency, Governor King, had done me the honour to visit the
Investigator, and to accept of a dinner on board; on which occasion he
had been received with the marks of respect due to his rank of
captain-general; and shortly afterward, the Captains Baudin and Hamelin,
with Monsieur Peron and some other French officers, as also Colonel
Paterson, the lieutenant-governor, did me the same favour; when they were
received under a salute of eleven guns. The intelligence of peace, which
had just been received, contributed to enliven the party, and rendered
our meeting more particularly agreeable. I showed to Captain Baudin one
of my charts of the south coast, containing the part first explored by
him, and distinctly marked as his discovery. He made no objection to the
justice of the limits therein pointed out; but found his portion to be
smaller than he had supposed, not having before been aware of the extent
of the discoveries previously made by Captain Grant. After examining the
chart, he said, apparently as a reason for not producing any of his own,
that his charts were not constructed on board the ship; but that he
transmitted to Paris all his bearings and observations, with a regular
series of views of the land, and from them the charts were to be made at
a future time. This mode appeared to me extraordinary, and not to be
worthy of imitation; conceiving that a rough chart, at least, should be
made whilst the land is in sight, when any error in bearing or
observation can be corrected; a plan which was adopted in the
commencement, and followed throughout the course of my voyage.
Amongst our employments was that of fitting up a green house on the
quarter deck, and sawing plank to make boxes for the reception of such
plants as might be found by the naturalist, and thought worthy of being
transported to His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew. This green house had
been received at Sheerness, and stowed away in pieces; but I saw that
when filled with boxes of earth, the upper works of the ship, naturally
very weak, would be incapable of supporting the weight; and that in bad
weather, we should be obliged to throw it over board for the safety of
the ship. I therefore proposed its reduction to two-thirds of the size;
and Mr. Brown being of opinion it would then contain all the plants
likely to be collected in any one absence from Port Jackson, it was
reduced accordingly; and the feet lowered down close to the deck. This
arrangement required an alteration in the tiller, and a short one, with
two arms, was fitted to the after part of the rudder head; with which
expedient, and leading the main braces forward, the green house was not
likely to cause much inconvenience to the working of the ship. The plants
already collected on the South Coast had been landed on our arrival, in
good order; and deposited in the governor's garden until such time as,
the objects of the voyage being completed, we should be ready to sail for
England.
The ship had never made more than three inches of water in an hour, after
leaving the Cape of Good Hope; so that much caulking was not required,
either within or out board. What was found necessary, was finished by the
middle of July, at the same time with the barricading of the quarter
deck; and the masts being then new rigged, and holds nearly completed
with water and provisions, the sails were bent and the ship was painted.
On the 21st, the last bag of bread and turn of water were received, the
new whale boat was brought off, and we dropped down the harbour; being
then ready for going to sea next morning.
In consequence of the directions given by His Majesty's principal
Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Lady Nelson, a brig of sixty
tons, commanded by Acting-Lieutenant John Murray, was placed under my
orders, as a tender to the Investigator. This vessel was fitted with
three sliding keels; and built after the plan of that ingenious officer
commissioner (now vice-admiral) Schanck. When the sliding keels were up,
the Lady Nelson drew no more than six feet water; and was therefore
peculiarly adapted for going up rivers, or other shallow places which it
might be dangerous, or impossible for the ship to enter. Mr Murray's crew
was mostly composed of convicts; and having no officer in whom he could
place entire confidence, I lent to him Mr Denis Lacy, one of my young
gentlemen acquainted with the management of a time keeper, to act as his
chief mate.
The price of fresh meat at Port Jackson was so exorbitant, that it was
impossible to think of purchasing it on the public account. I obtained
one quarter of beef for the ship's company, in exchange for salt meat,
and the governor furnished us with some baskets of vegetables from his
garden; and in lieu of the daily pound of biscuit, each man received a
pound and a quarter of soft bread, without any expense to government. But
with these exceptions, I was obliged to leave the refreshment of the
people to their own individual exertions; assisting them with the payment
due for savings of bread since leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and the
different artificers with the money earned by their extra services in
refitting the ship. Fish are usually plentiful at Port Jackson in the
summer, but not in the winter time; and our duties were too numerous and
indispensable to admit of sending people away with the seine, when there
was little prospect of success; a few were, however, occasionally bought
alongside, from boats which fished along the coast.
In purchasing a sea stock for the cabin, I paid £3 a head for sheep,
weighing from thirty to forty pounds when dressed. Pigs were bought at
9d. per pound, weighed alive, geese at 10s. each, and fowls at 3s.; and
Indian corn for the stock cost 5s. a bushel.
To complete the ship's provisions, I entered into a contract for 30,000
pounds of biscuit, 8000 pounds of flour, and 156 bushels of kiln-dried
wheat; but in the meantime, the ship Coromandel brought out the greater
part of the twelvemonths' provisions, for which I had applied on sailing
from Spithead; and the contractor was prevailed upon to annul that part
of the agreement relating to flour and wheat. The biscuit cost 33s. per
hundred pounds; and considering that the colony was at short allowance,
and that the French ships were to be supplied, it was a favourable price.
From two American vessels which arrived, I purchased 1483 gallons of rum
at 6s. 6d. per gallon; which, with what remained of our former stock was
a proportion for twelve months. In other respects our provisions were
completed from the quantity sent out from England; and the remaining part
was lodged in the public stores, in charge of the commissary, until our
return.
In addition to the melancholy loss of eight officers and men, at the
entrance of Spencer's Gulf, and the previous deficiency of four in the
complement, I found it necessary to discharge the man who had been bitten
by a seal at Kangaroo Island, as also a marine, who was invalided; so
that fourteen men were required to complete my small ship's company. Mr
John Aken, chief mate of the ship Hercules, was engaged to fill the
situation of master, and five men, mostly seamen, were entered, but
finding it impossible to fill up the complement with free people, I
applied to the governor for his permission to enter such convicts as
should present themselves, and could bring respectable recommendations.
This request, as every other I had occasion to make to His Excellency,
was complied with; and when the requisite number was selected, he gave me
an official document, containing clauses relative to these men, well
calculated to ensure their good conduct. As this document may be thought
curious by many readers, it is here inserted; premising, that the men
therein mentioned, with the exception of two, were convicts for life.
By His Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq.,
captain-general and governor in chief, in and
over His Majesty's territory of New South Wales
and its dependencies, etc., etc., etc.
"Whereas Captain Matthew Flinders, commander of His Majesty's ship
Investigator, has requested permission to receive on board that ship the
undermentioned convicts as seamen, to make up the number he is deficient.
I do hereby grant Thomas Toney, Thomas Martin, Joseph Marlow, Thomas
Shirley, Joseph Tuzo, Richard Stephenson, Thomas Smith, Francis Smith,
and Charles Brown permission to ship themselves on board His Majesty's
ship Investigator, and on the return of that ship to this port, according
to Captain Flinders' recommendation of them, severally and individually,
they will receive conditional emancipations or absolute pardons, as that
officer may request.
"And in the interim I do, by virtue of the power and authority in me
vested, grant a provisional-conditional emancipation to the said Thomas
Toney, etc.; for the purpose of their being enabled to serve on board His
Majesty's said ship Investigator, whilst in the neighbourhood of this
territory; which conditional emancipation will be of no effect, in case
any of those named herein do individually conduct themselves so ill, as
to put it out of captain Flinders' power to recommend them for a
conditional or absolute pardon on his return to this port.
"Given under my hand and seal at government house Sydney,
in New South Wales, this 15th day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1802. (Signed) Philip Gidley King, (L. S.)"
Several of these men were seamen, and all were able and healthy; so that
I considered them a great acquisition to our strength. With respect to
themselves, the situation to which they were admitted was most desirable;
since they had thereby a prospect of returning to their country, and that
society from which they had been banished; and judging from the number of
candidates for the vacancies, such was the light in which a reception on
board the Investigator was considered in the colony. When the master was
entered, one of the men, being over the complement, was sent to the Lady
Nelson, with a reserve of the privilege above granted.
I had before experienced much advantage from the presence of a native of
Port Jackson, in bringing about a friendly intercourse with the
inhabitants of other parts of the coast; and on representing this to the
governor, he authorised me to receive two on board. _Bongaree_, the
worthy and brave fellow who had sailed with me in the Norfolk, now
volunteered again; the other was Nanbaree, a good-natured lad, of whom
Colonel Collins has made mention in his _Account of New South Wales_.
My instructions directed me to consult with Governor King upon the best
means of proceeding in the execution of the voyage; they also pointed out
my return to the south coast, as the first step after refitting the ship
at Port Jackson; but His Excellency was of opinion, as well as myself,
that it would be unsafe to do this in the middle of the winter season;
and that to remain six months in port waiting for the fine weather would
be a sad waste of time; I had, besides, left very little of importance to
be examined upon the south coast, a circumstance which the instructions
had not contemplated. Upon all these considerations, it was decided to
proceed to the northward--examine Torres' Strait and the east side of the
Gulf of Carpentaria before the north-west monsoon should set in--proceed
as I might be able during its continuance--and afterwards explore the
north and north-west coasts; returning to Port Jackson when, and by such
route as might be found most advisable, and conducive to the general
purposes of the voyage.
It was probable that the north-west monsoon would not set in before the
beginning of November; I therefore intended to examine such parts of the
east coast of New South Wales in my way to the northward, as had been
passed by Captain Cook in the night, and were not seen in my expedition
with the Norfolk sloop in 1799. The openings of Keppel and Shoal-water
Bays, and the still larger of Broad Sound, I was also anxious to explore;
in the hope of finding a river falling into some one of them, capable of
admitting the Lady Nelson into the interior of the country. These
desirable objects I expected to accomplish before the approach of the
monsoon would call me into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The French ships were in no forwardness for sailing; and it was
understood that Captain Baudin intended sending back Le Naturaliste to
France, by the way of Bass' Strait, so soon as the season should be
favourable. He had purchased a small vessel of between thirty and forty
tons at Sydney, to serve him as a tender; and he told me that we should
probably meet in the Gulf of Carpentaria in December or January. I
understood that he meant to return to the south coast, and after
completing its examination, to proceed northward, and enter the Gulf with
the north-west monsoon; but it appeared to me very probable, that the
western winds on the south coast would detain him too long to admit of
reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria at the time specified, or at any time
before the south-east monsoon would set in against him.
Before leaving Sydney Cove, I placed in the hands of governor King two
copies of my chart of the south coast of Terra Australis, in six sheets;
with three other sheets of particular parts, on a large scale. One copy I
requested him to send with my letters to the secretary of the Admiralty,
by the first good opportunity that offered; the other was to remain in
his hands until my return, or until he should hear of the loss of the
Investigator, when it was also to be sent to the Admiralty.
During our stay of twelve weeks at Port Jackson, there were not many days
favourable to our pursuits at the observatory, the weather being dull and
rainy for the greater part of the time; by watching all opportunities
however, a sufficient number of observations were obtained to show the
rates of the time keepers, and to answer the purposes of geography and
navigation.
The _Latitude_ of Cattle Point, from thirty meridian altitudes in an
artificial horizon, of which fourteen were taken by Mr. Crosley and seven
by me in 1795, and nine by lieutenant Flinders at this time, is 33° 51'
45.6" S.
_Longitude_ from forty-four sets of distances of the sun and moon, of
which the individual results are given in Table VI of the Appendix to
this volume, 151° 11' 49" E.*
[* In 1795 and 1796 I took sixty sets of distances upon Cattle Point, an
equal number on each side, which gave the longitude 151° 17' 12"; but
these observations not having been calculated with great nicety, nor
corrected for the errors of the lunar and solar tables, the result is not
considered to be of equal authority with that given above. The present
admiral D'ESPINOSA, when an officer in the voyage of Malaspina, observed
an eclipse of the sun at Port Jackson, and occultations of the first and
second satellites of Jupiter, from which he deduces the longitude of the
town of Sydney to be 151° 12' 45" east of Greenwich; not differing more
than a minute of longitude from the above forty-four sets of corrected
lunar observations.]
This position of Cattle Point, being reduced to the entrance of Port
Jackson, will be for the Flag staff on the south head, latitude 33° 51½'
south, longitude 151° 16½ east.
Ramsden's universal theodolite was set up at the observatory, and
intended to be used as a transit instrument; but from the unfavourable
state of the weather and my numerous occupations, it was not adjusted to
the meridian; and the rates of the time keepers were therefore deduced
from equal altitudes, taken with a sextant and artificial horizon in the
usual way. Their errors from mean Greenwich time, at noon there July 18,
and the mean rates of going in the last fifteen days, which were selected
as the best, were as under:
Earnshaw's No. 543, slow Oh 16' 39.72" and losing 8.63" per day.
Earnshaw's No. 520, slow 1 18 53.00 and losing 19.52 per day.
The longitude of Cattle Point, given by the time keepers with the
Kangaroo-Island rates on May 10th, the first day of observation after our
arrival, was by
No. 543 151° 31' 21" east
No. 520 151 26 49 east.
The mean is 17' 16" more than deduced from the lunar observations; and
when rates are used equally accelerating from those at Kangaroo Island,
to what were found on first arriving at Port Jackson, the longitude by
the time keepers would still be 14' 57.4" to the east; so that they
appear to have gone less regularly during this passage than before. In
fixing the longitudes of places between the two stations, the time
keepers with their accelerated rates have been used; and the error of 14'
57.4" has been corrected by quantities proportionate to the times of
observation, between April 6 at Kangaroo Island, and May 9 at Port
Jackson.
The mean _dip_ of the south end of the needle at Cattle Point was 62° 52'
Variation of the compass, observed by lieutenant Flinders on Garden
Island in the following year, 8° 51' east.
No remarks were made at this time upon the _tide_; but it is known to be
high water in Port Jackson about _eight hours and a quarter_ after the
moon's passage over and under the meridian; and the usual rise to be
between four and six or seven feet. When high water takes place between
three or four in the afternoon and one or two in the morning, it rises
from six to eighteen inches higher than the preceding flood; and the
following ebb descends a few inches lower than that which preceded the
high tide.
The range of the thermometer on board the ship, was from 51° to 69°; and
nearly the same on shore. The mercury in the barometer stood from 29.60
to 30.36 inches; but it was remarkable that it stood lowest in the fine
weather, when the wind came from the westward off the land, and was
highest in the rainy, squally weather, with the wind from the sea.
According to the information communicated by colonel W. Paterson, F. R.
S., commander of the troops at Port Jackson, this relation between the
mercury and the weather was general here in the winter season, when the
eastern winds bring rain with them; and I had frequent occasion to remark
upon the South Coast, that sea winds raised the mercury in the barometer,
whilst those from the land, even with fine weather, caused it to descend.